When my husband told me he didn’t love me, my entire marriage flashed before my eyes. Family time, romantic date nights, holiday get-togethers, summer vacations and weekends, would never be the same. He changed our family dynamics forever.

After two decades of sharing our lives together, I thought we would be married forever. And when I stood across from him, shaking, and listening to him tell me he no longer had feelings for me, I thought it was a bad dream. - Susanne's story

"If we all confessed our sins together, we would laugh at one another for the lack of originality." - Khalil Gibran

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SUPER MOM SYNDROME

I look back on those years when the boys were younger and, though there were many very happy times, underneath the surface I had been mostly miserable because of my own expectations of myself. I had not learned to be content with the here and now. I had not allowed myself to grow in my role as a mom and wife while the time was at hand because I was too focused on all that I had imagined I was missing out on by not building a career and being a person of some stature in the job market. I had not learned that my misery came from my own lack of imagination about what it means to be industrious, or successful. I had grown up with the idea that I could be a modern-day “Super Woman,” which is an idea that a lot of women grow up with—and some actually achieve—having the home, children, and dual-careers. - Anastasia's story

Today, I walk stronger. It took me 58 years to learn that I am a survivor.

I have traveled tremendous journeys from destructive relationships to toxic families. I survived because of a few, confident, open and honest women, who shared their hope and experiences with me, and one man, who literally, saved my life. He continues to walk with me, opening doors to new possibilities.

I wouldn't change a thing--I am a survivor, and I keep a journal, sharing my stories to heal myself and others. I can't hold on to what I've learned, if I don't give it away to help others heal.

-Anonymous

LOVE

After ordering your book online (it came very quickly) I read the chapter about Love first because I am divorced and alone. I actually thought about taking my husband back, just so I wouldn't be alone, that was until I read your quote on page 95. I knew he never felt that way about me, and honestly I never felt that way about him, we were just kind of stuck together. I am not going back. I am going forward. I want to LiveAnu, btw...thanks.

You can watch the news, read the headlines, hear the startling statistics, but unless you’ve walked in my shoes, and have a child who is addicted to opioids, you can’t begin to imagine what it is like wondering if today is the last day you’re going to see your child. The last day, you’re going to hug her, the last day you’re going to say, “I love you.”

I feel so helpless, because there’s nothing I can do to help her. I fight at the capital. I fight the legislature. But, to no avail.

This is not about me…this is not my story... it is about saving my child’s life. I have no support from friends or family. They don’t understand this disease. They prefer to be ostriches. I refuse to bury my head in the sand; I refuse to pretend this problem does not exist; I refuse to give up fighting for my daughter, and I refuse to let this addiction take the only person I love and have left in this world.

I found a wonderful online addiction resource that I’d like to share with parents and their children who are dealing with this epidemic